Some people may not know what off-the-grid or off-grid means, so here it is --- The term off-the-grid or off-grid refers to living in a self-sufficient manner without reliance on one or more public utilities.

Off-grid living is no longer a one room log cabin in the woods. It's energy independency. You don't have to rely on utility companies, you create your own power. Today, there are more than 180,000 off-grid homes in the US.

Monday, April 16, 2012

Work Weekend...

46 degrees - 9:50 am - raining...

All the snow is finally gone so it was time to do some spring cleaning outside, with a little bit of landscaping mixed in here and there.

I spent the weekend working on building some rock retaining walls and a pathway up to the chicken coop.After transplanting a huge fern that was right in the middle of my pathway (which I broke another shovel on – I think we are now up to three broken shovels), I had Tony use the excavator to move a small boulder.The rest of my time was spent picking up the debris, doing some basic clean up and maintaining my small burn pile.

The start of the pathway up to the chicken coop -
before the fern and boulder were moved - still a work in process.

We are going to be putting in a foot bridge to go over the drainage ditch.
Tony cut down the pathway a bit so it's not such a steap incline.

I just had to put in a few waterfalls in at the end of
one drainage ditch before it enters the other
drainage ditch. I love the sound it makes!

Tony spent the weekend putting the track back on the excavator that fell off shortly after he moved my small boulder.Then he was moving a large pile of stumps further away from the house so they can be burned later, broke a hydraulic hose in the process.So off to Napa we went to get the hose fixed with a quick side trip to Home Depot to pick up a few more supplies for our next big projects.

After our not so quick trip to town, it was time to get back to work.So while I was working on my small burn pile Tony was working on his huge burn pile.He then decided that a few trees needed to go to let more light into the garden area... so away went a stand of Vine Maple.

Tony just starting his burn pile. He is standing next to a ginormous stump -
I don't think that thing will ever burn. Not sure what we are going to do with
it - it's too big for any of the excavators to move.

the end of our work weekend...

The whole area looks much better.The garden area now looks like an extension of the backyard instead of a random little clearing.It has really opened things up.The backyard is really starting to look like a backyard.I love it!

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Welcome

Have you ever dreamed of buying some property somewhere, to live a simpler, more sustainable life? We did, and we were crazy enough to do it.

Our family has chosen to live off-grid. We have purchased 22 acres in the foot hills of the Cascade Mountain Range in the Great Pacific Northwest. Our property is off-grid meaning we have no public utilities whatsoever.

With this blog we will let you know about our experiences in building our home off-grid and how the progress of that is going along with what off-grid living is like for us.
--- Enjoy!